Reigning Nigeria 100m champion, Ushoritse Itsekiri, will begin his bid for his first ever continental title when the 100m event of the 13th African Games begin today in Accra, the capital city of Ghana.

The 26-year-old, fourtime Nigerian champion won a bronze medal five years ago when he made his debut at the Games running 10.02secs in the final where Raymond Ekevwo ran 9.96secs to win the title in Rabat, Morocco at the 12th edition of the Games.

That was the closest the Delta State-born athlete came to winning the gold but he will relish the chance to finally make it to the podium as champion this time around, especially with the confirmed absence of reigning African and Commonwealth Games champion as well as record holder, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, and a few others who have broken 10 seconds over the distance.

Itsekiri has competed over the 50 and 60m distances prior to the Games, setting a 5.71secs lifetime best in the 50m and 6.65secs personal season’s best in the 60m, but knows he will need finally run inside 10 seconds for the first time in his career to stand a chance of winning the ultimate medal.